The LRB Chapter 4

Paying a visit.

	A breeze swept through the old oak trees. The risen moon illuminated the beaten stone walkway in front of Joey. It got darker farther in under the oak trees so the teen went back and fetched the flashlight from his glove compartment. Far down the old worn stone path under the deep canopy of trees the nineteen year old kangaroo turned off of it and onto the grass where his best friend laid waiting for him to show up.

"Hey Bue.. Havent seen you in a little while." Joey looked down at where the blue cat boy rested comfortably.

"James and Jay finally graduated tonight but you all ready knew that huh?" He breathed a heavy sigh and smiled. Bue nodded in reply.

"Phox says you've been visiting him lately. Heh.. Why don't you drop me a line sometime when you're in the neighborhood? Me and the guys miss ya." Joey laughed weakly.

"I do visit you Joey, more than you think. You're always so distracted you hardly notice me around. You know I'll always be hanging around, checking up on all of you! Don't worry about me so much, I'm fine." Bue sat up and smiled warmly at his ex boyfriend.

"I'm still not sure why you left us but whatever the reason I still love ya." The kangaroo rubbed his blue eyes.

"I still love ya too bud.. I'm sorry I didn't give any of you a reason but I had a lot of things going on inside of me and I couldn't go on for much longer so I chose to leave. I wasn't thinking right and never thought about how much of an impact it would make on everyone." Bue stood up and brushed his blond hair from his eyes. Joey rubbed his tired eyes again.

"You know.... I still have problems with starting new relationships since you went away without saying goodbye-" Joey choked on a few tears. He squated down and wiped his face with his arm.

"I'm sorry Joey.." The young blue cat looked down at his kangaroo buddy and put an arm around him.

"I've been.. so lackadaisical for a while now.. I took a year off after I graduated and given up on the thought of going to college.." Joey blinked his burning eyes tightly and swated away a few mosquitos.

"Don't give up on college. Jay, James and our other friends will be going there, so why not give it a try?" Bue purred in his ear.

"Well... I guess I could give it a shot.. The others will be there and it'll give me something to do instead of wasting the days away.." Joey ran his paw through his brown hair.

"Don't worry about me sweety, though I have the feeling that you might not listen to me.. but I'll always be with you in spirit." Bue leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. Joey gently put his paw over the spot where he was kissed. It had been a very long time since he felt that.

"Have a safe drive home hun. Remember: there are a lot of crazies on the roads tonight. Take care Joey.." Bue patted the young man on the back softly. The wind blew gently through the trees. Joey knelt down on the ground and held his head in his paws. The pain that took up residence in his heart swelled up again. It didn't hurt too much this time so he burried it deep within his chest again. The pain had lingered with him for so long now that his body got used to it and would go numb, but some days it would be more intense to the point where every breath he took was in agony.

Joey suddenly turned around at the sound of a voice coming from behind him. He shook off his feelings abruptly and stood up.

"Yo Joe," the voice started as Joey shielded his eyes from a pair of flashlights, "whadda ya know? Thought we'd find you here!" Jay and James aproached the lone fur from the stone walkway.

"Hey guys. I thought I'd stop by to say hi to him." The two graduates had taken their gowns off and left them in their cars. The fox and the ferret stood next to Joey and shined their lights down onto the grave where their friend was kneeling beside. 

The tombstone read: "Jake "Bue" Onyx. 1984-2001. We will miss you." He had just gotten his drivers license two weeks before he committed suicide. He would have graduated with Joey last year. Some debate that it might be murder instead of suicide but there was no evidence to prove it.

The last person to see him alive said that he seemed rather happy that day, more than usual. Bue had been sort of depressed for a while before he died but he rarely talked to the other guys about what was really bothering him. He was so happy that day.. Bue was later found in the middle of a field, a short ways from a group of mail boxes, with a fatal gun shot wound to the head. There were no signs of a struggle and there was no suicide note left behind. What was strange though was Bue hated guns and no one knew how, why or where he got one.

"You OK Joe?" Jay asked.

"Yeah, I'm cool.." Joey touched his cheek once more. "I think I felt him a moment ago.." He smiled.

"Really? That's cool! You're starting to sound like Phox now, heh." James joked. Seraphox claimed to be sensitive to spirits and energies around him and can feel them every day.

The three stood in a semi circle around Bue's grave in silence for a few minutes. James shivered as the wild owls called out from the oaks. Being in the Oakfur Cemetary at night started to give the red fox the creeps. His overactive imagination weaved scary thoughts in his mind. James was always into the whole ghosts, aliens and other X-Files sort of stuff, much like Seraphox was back in his teen years.

"H-hey, umm, guys? .. Umm, maybe we should get going now-I mean like, umm, like.. We can come back again tomorrow in the afternoon and visit Bue." He stuttered nervously.

"What's the matter sweety? Is my Jamesie getting spooked?" Jay grined wickedly.

"No!.. No, no... No.. .. Yes. Yes, very much so-Please can we leave??" The other two furs busted up laughing. 

"Hahaha! Jamie you're so funny!" Jay chuckled loudly.

"Heh.. eh-heh heh. I'm serious-we leave now!" The spooked James insisted impatiently. He inched his way towards the path, hesitating to wait for the others to join him. The fox boy squirmed as his paranoid mind made him feel the creepy claws of the dead crawl up back and legs. Coming here seemed like a good idea at the time to James untill his imagination ran away with him.

Joey needed a good laugh to lighten his spirits so to speak. He joined in with Jay and together they feigned cheep dramatical wailing and zombie like groaning. The two could hardly keep their fits of giggling at bay long enough for their theatrics.

"Come on you guys! This is really creeping me out! Stop that! I wanna go home now, OK?" He whined.

"Oooohh all right.. You silly boy you.." Jay gave his boyfriend a noogie and wrapped an arm around him. "I guess we could go now. What do you say Joe?"

"Yeah, lets call it a night" Joey yawned. Greatfully James scooted out of the Oakfur Cemetary with two of his best friends and hopefully without bringing home a few unwanted guests to haunt him through out the night.

"This is SO going to keep me up all night, I just know it.." James complained as he sighed with relief upon reaching his car.

"Chicken shit." Jay muttered griningly under his breath as he kissed his boyfriend goodnight.

To be continued.